Blade
by Scarabeye3000
Summary: Slight Tashigi and Zoro One shot Only!


**Disclaimer: I will never own this copyrighted material**

**Title: Blade**

**Chapter One: First Blood**

**East Blue**

A man in a black samurai haramaki and a hood over his head walked towards one of the bars still open on that island. It had been years since his crew returned to East Blue and he could still remember that day as it was burned into his mind. That was when this troublesome sword came to him, cursed as it may be, or may have a mind of its own, nevertheless, its thirst for battle is always satiated as the most powerful swordsman is finally its wielder. Whenever he collided swords with a particularly powerful opponent, the three _Meitou_ on his hands vibrated knowingly, and since he could finally use _Haki _on his own and imbue it on his weapon, he is now a one-man army neigh unstoppable in front of even the biggest warship of the Marine High Command.

He was challenged left and right, and feared by all wrong-doers, his crew have been notorious on chasing down any pirates that have abused, enslaved, or oppressed any town or city that they have weighed anchored upon. Their strengths were legendary and even the Marine garrison would tremble whenever their crew were sighted within 100 nautical miles, the new Pirate King would always correct any mistake and carry off foods that he would take to his journeys.

So, in the cover of darkness, they docked into this large city, to resupply and return to the birthplace of the new Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy. He sighed as he finally reached the bar and stared at the bartender under his hood, the man smiled a roguish grin and approached him.

"What'll you have stranger?"

He sighed again and produced some gold coins and stacked it neatly on the counter, "Give me some house rum."

The bartender reached under the bar and produced a bottle of fine rum, he pulled the cork and poured a healthy amount of rum on the stranger's glasses. Picking up his glass and swirled the red sweet scented contents inside, he sighed again as he took a gulp out of it. "The taste of rum here in East Blue never changes, it's always nice to come back here."

"I take it you travelled far stranger?" the bartender had an inquisitive eye and saw the bulging swords under the traveller's cloak he was wearing, "Must be nice for you to come back here? It's been a long time since you came back here with your crew."

"Yeah, it's not every time I get to come back into East Blue unnoticed," he laid his glass again as the bartender poured him another round, "Sure is nice and quiet, I love it when this kind of night happens, especially at sea and the only sound that you hear is the ocean and freedom."

"Listen kid, I've been here for a long time," the bartender smiled and left him the bottle to finish, "Try not to destroy anything here on my bar ok Zorro?"

The hooded man smiled, "Never knew I was that obvious."

"You ought to change your earrings then, they stood out even when under the hood," the bartender cleaned some glasses and chuckled, "Might get your hands full today, it's the Marines night right now."

"No shit, I'll try to drink in peace," helping himself to the bottle as he produced a bag full of gold, "In case someone does recognizes me, I promise not to draw the first sword, not to throw the first punch, and not to destroy your property first. Any case, I'm already paying for any collateral damage ok? Let me drink in peace dear Drinking God."

"A bartender's job is to shut up and listen to its customers," the man stealthily took the offered gold and smiled a bit, "My lips are sealed Master Swordsman."

Roronoa Zorro, one of the 11 former Supernova, First-mate of the Straw Hat Pirates and currently has a bounty of 150 million berri, drank silently for a few minutes, until the bartender greeted the person who sat next to him.

"How are ye Sergeant Tashigi?"

'_Terrific, that crazy sword-chasing woman is still here... who would have thought?' _He kept silent the whole time he drank and enjoyed his rum. That is until Tashigi answered the bartender, "Still chasing the _Meitou_ around the world."

"Might get your hands full Sergeant," the bartender took out also a bottle of rum and he poured out a generous amount for her, "This one is for you, courtesy of a customer."

"Really? You never served me rum before, who's the guy?" she deftly looked behind her and saw the rowdy sailors and marines that were also drinking with them, "Are they one of the boys?"

"Maybe," then the bartender gave her a wink and vanished behind his counter again.

"Hey."

"Yes, Sergeant?" the bartender surfaced and was cleaning another mug from out of nowhere, "Want to order another round?"

"Not yet, it's just that rum is a pirate drink, and there's this one pirate that I really can't get out of my mind."

"Really? A bartender should not pry, but may I know the name of that pirate?"

"Roronoa Zoro is the-"

Tashigi and the bartender looked at the hooded man as he gruffly said sorry to no one in particular when he inhaled his drink and spilled some on the counter top. The man wiped the spilled beverage on his lips and shook his head. Terrific, just when he was having a good time, this woman came sauntering down here and begin to talk about him. Great, it was a perfect night, '_I think I should leave now... before other things happen.'_

As he stood up to leave, the young Lieutenant cleared her throat, "Where do you think you're going Zoro?"

'_Great...'_

"What are you talking about Sergeant?"

She banged the counter top and spilled the offered drink, "You know what I mean Pirate!"

"Don't start," the scarred face turned towards her and she almost reeled back at his hard gaze, "Tashigi."

He cleared his throat and sat down again, "I promised the bartender, that I would behave. Don't make me break that promise Sergeant, if you want I can give you anything you want-"

"Give me your _Meitou!"_ she hissed at him.

"Except that," he said flatly.

"Fight me with all of your strength then."

"No way."

"Liar."

"Alright," he sighed dejectedly as he gulped rum again, "I figure I can do both."

A glint on her eyes made him flinch as he remembered Kuina in her, "How?"

"I'll fight you, and if you defeat me then I will give you-" he removed something from inside his coat and produced a blade that made her eyes grow as large as plates, "-this... I already checked it out, it's called the-"

" '_Shirayuki'_-" Tashigi shook her head in disbelief, "How in the world did you manage to get treasures like the _Meitou_?"

Zoro scratched his head, "I really don't know why-" he stroked the hilt of his swords and sighed, "It's just that I can _feel _these swords when they are... near me."

She looked at him with a different eye and he sighed deeply again, "And since that I really want you to trust me to keep my word-"

He slid over the _Shirayuki _to her arm and she immediately took it, eyeing him suspiciously she scanned him for any possible deception, "Are you sure Zoro?"

The swordsman downed another bottle of rum and stood up quickly, "Time's a wasting, get on your feet we need to fight."

He walked towards the door with a rum bottle in one hand and his right arm slung over his three swords, Tashigi followed with a determined eye, but kept a steady grip on her _Shigure_ and the new blade called _Shirayuki. _The whole town was almost deserted as the night tavern are the only places that remained opened, it was almost the middle of the night and not even a single marine patrol can be seen in the streets. Walking in silence she caught up to him and looked at his eyes under the hood, "You seemed different at all swordsman…"

"Not at all, that's why I even approved this 'little' duel that we have."

They arrived at the park on top of a hill overlooking the town, small lights flickered from the distance as Zoro finally removed his hood. Unsheathing her sword and putting down _Shirayuki _beside her sword's scabbard, Tashigi turned to the man and almost dropped her sword. The rumours were true, a savage scar was on his face rendering one of his eyes closed, although it didn't seem to impair him one bit, as the intense pressure that he emanated magnified in the time that they were apart. His _vigor_ almost dominated her, yet she was already a hero in her own right, different thoughts ran through her mind as she looked at him in the eye.

"Ready, Tashigi?"

She took a deep breath and calmed her nerves, "I'm ready."

Tashigi drew her sword on her shoulder level to prepare in a slashing motion done by Zoro on their previous meetings, however she immediately felt the growing darkness around his immediate vicinity. More and more the feeling of his pressure builds up in front of her as he took out his three swords, then to her astonishment she had perceived that she was face to face with three Zoro's.

"_Azura…"_

Memories of her reading reports regarding the attack on Impel Down wracked her mind, one of the agents of the World Government was brutally wounded by Zoro and he reported the same experiences. Nine swords, six arms, three faces, and a dark cold void in the middle of it all. She would never have expected to feel the same way as-

Her eyes fluttered open as the cool night air caressed her skin, she immediately felt around for her _Shigure _panic bubbling inside of her, but she calmed down as she felt it on her right arm. She was dizzy that much was certain and it felt like her head was splitting in three places at once, the rain had cleared a bit and she could see the stars from the sky, she sat up straight and rubbed her sore shoulder. The feeling she felt when he drew his sword and multiplied-

'_ZORO!'_

She turned her head to the right and saw Zoro sitting calmly cross-legged at the grass looking at her.

Tashigi could felt her face heat up as the swordsman looked at her, "Zoro- what are you-"

His hand slid over the inside pocket of his black gi and produced the white blade, "This is yours now," the _Shirayuki_ was presented to her and her left hand reached out for it. When did she dropped the blade? Probably when she fainted, but wait a minute.

"Hold on," her hand retreated as one of his eye brows rose up a notch, "Why are you giving it to me? I lost in our duel right?"

The green-haired swordsman managed a grin, "I could never wield a 4th blade, my style is the _Santoryu_ and adding a fourth one would throw me off-balance."

He stood up and walked towards the park, her voice managed to stop him a second time, "But why?"

"SHUT UP WOMAN!" he stamped towards her and pointed an index finger at her temple, "You said you wanted to pry and collect all the _Meitou _right? How can you possibly do that with using only your _Shigure?_"

Zoro straightened up and headed for the shadows, his black haramaki blending perfectly with the darkness, "You can start with the _Shirayuki_ I gave you, maybe in time you could even get the _Kokuto Yoru_."

She shook her head in disbelief and looked at the darkened sky as _Shirayuki _rested beside her, propping herself on her elbows she looked into the darkened path where the green swordsman walked awhile ago.

"Will I see you again?"

Tashigi asked to no-one in particular.

"Don't worry! You'll find me!"

And a smile crept on her lips.

FIN

**Author's note:**

First ever Tashigi and Zoro fanfiction that I ever did. Quite hurried, but I just wanted to give her something.


End file.
